The Rogue Commander
by delilahrosenberg
Summary: I haven't written fiction since High School, so please be gentle. This story came to my mind one night while trying to get to sleep. Lithoniel is a rogue who wants to be a respectable commander. I have a feeling it won't last ;
1. Chapter 1

Lithoniel Mahariel sighed as she pushed Zevran's letter to the side of her desk. After a long trek from Denerim, an unexpected battle with a horde of darkspawn, meeting a mage who might be mad, and running into Oghren (who was definitely mad), the _last_ thing she needed was a letter from her lover saying that he had pressing business in Antiva and wouldn't be able to help train recruits at Vigil's Keep.

_Pfft. Pressing business. He was probably pressed against some Antivan whore right now_.

Lith took a deep breath and tried to gather what calm remained. She would need it to deal with the other letters on her desk. There were farms in need of protecting, trade routes to be opened, and somebody's daughter was in need of rescuing. Of course, on top of all this there was the problem of the talking darkspawn. The Creators damned talking darkspawn.

Lith cradled her aching head in her hands and tried to think of which problem to handle first. She was so deep in thought that she nearly jumped out of her chair at the sound of a timid tap on the door.

"No need to be bashful, " she called from her desk, "unless your name is Zevrain Aranai. In which case you had better run far and fast"

"Nope, just your friendly neighborhood apostate," Anders said with a smirk as he walked through the door. "I happen to be very glad that I am not Zevran at this moment, though I wouldn't mind being able to say I've done some of the … things he's done," he concluded with a wink as he sat down in the chair across from her desk.

_This one is definitely going to be a handful_, Lith thought with a grimace.

"You know, scrunching your face up like that does absolutely nothing for your looks."

Lithoniel raised one delicately arched eyebrow and sighed "Is there a reason why you're here, Anders?"

"I like to think my existence is proof the Maker has an amazing sense of humor."

She dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "I have no time for idle banter. If you have nothing of consequence to say please leave me to my work."

Anders caught the hint and assumed as close to an "all business" posture as he could muster. "I actually came to ask for your help, but I see you already have a lot on your mind."

Lith was surprised to see genuine concern in his amber eyes, and was about to tell him everything that had been running through her mind when he knocked on the door. Then she remembered. _Right. He's a healer of course he's concerned. And I'm his commander. No room for friendship here_.

Instead, she got up from her chair (which was uncomfortable anyway) and came around to lean against her desk. She tried to loom over the new warden as best she could as an elf.

"That I do. And didn't I already rescue you today? You should feel lucky that I am such good friends with King Alistair that he was willing to back me up when I conscripted you right out of that Templar bitch's grasp."

"You have no idea," Anders sighed, "Rylock has dragged me back to to the tower countless times, just like a faithful Mabari bitch would to her master. I think she really enjoys it... enjoys seeing me suffer. That or she has a massive crush, and who could blame her? Still, she won't give up the hunt, and as long as the Templars have my phylactery on hand I will never truly be free."

Lith tilted her head to the side and pretended to carefully consider his request even though, as no believer in the Maker, she was more than willing to leap at this opportunity to cause the Templars a bit of trouble.

"That would be a problem. From what I've seen you might turn out to be the best healer I've met since Wynne. I can't have the Templars dragging you away."

"Hah! Wynne's got nothing on me. I could heal circles around that old biddy, and besides that I'm charming _and_ handsome..." Anders trailed off as he caught The Look in his commander's eye and quickly changed his tone, "Right. I'm glad you're willing to help me even if it is for a practical reason," He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "I have a contact in Amaranthine City. I was on my way to meet her when the Templars captured me. She had just found out where they are storing my phylactery. I'd like you to come with me to the city just to be on the safe side."

"Well then, I guess that simplifies my list a bit. I need to go to the city myself to follow a lead on the darkspawn. I also need to see if anyone knows where Kristoff might have gotten to. Hopefully we can find him because odds are he knows something about what is going on with these creatures. We'll head there first thing in the morning." Lithoniel suddenly noticed how very tired Anders looked. _He looks at least twice as tired as I feel. What did the Templars do to him before I got here? _A hand went involuntarily to the mage's shoulder "Get some rest, healer. You've had a long day and odds are it will be an even longer one tomorrow."

Anders rose reluctantly from his seat, curious to see what else might lie behind his commander's facade. "Til the morning then, Commander. And do get some rest yourself. Healer's orders."


	2. Chapter 2

Lithoniel yawned and stretched as the dawn light streaming in through the window of her bedroom slowly woke her up. After years of quasi-nomadic life with her Dalish clan, and then life on the road with her merry band of misfits, having rooms she could call her own felt like a luxury. Especially this room with its oh-so-comfortable bed. She was tempted to stay in bed just a bit longer, but her sense of responsibility won out. The Commander of the Grey wouldn't be setting a good example for her new recruits if she gave in to sloth.

Lith swung her feet over the edge of the bed and winced as they touched the ice-cold stones of the floor. _Note to self: dig up a carpet somewhere_. Due to the chill she had her drakeskin armor on in record time and was soon sprinting to the mess hall for breakfast. Lith didn't think she would ever get used to the gnawing hunger pangs that came with being a Warden.

Upon entering the mess hall she saw only two out of the three new recruits. A smile twitched at the corners of her full lips when she saw Oghren was having beer for breakfast. _Some things never change_. Nathaniel had the same stubborn look in his gray eyes that he had when she first met him the day before. Lith sighed inwardly. _That _needs_ to change_.

"Where is Anders?"

"Sparklefingers is probably still getting his beauty sleep," Oghren grumbled around his beer mug.

"He certainly needs all he can get," Nathaniel added with an unexpected smile in Oghren's direction.

"Well, nice to see you are willing to get along with _someone_," Lith said just as his face became an impassive mask once again, "I guess I'll see if I can rouse the mage.

With her stomach still protesting the lack of breakfast, she made her way to Anders' room. By all rights there should be enough Wardens here that they would need to double up at least, but after the unexpected darkspawn attack there were more than enough rooms to go around. Lith stopped when she heard the muted sound of snoring through a door. This had to be his room, and he was definitely still asleep. She knocked gently on Anders' door. It was an imperfect echo of the way he had gotten her attention last night; imperfect because unlike herself, he didn't respond. She tried knocking harder but still got no response. At that point she was frustrated and fairly certain her stomach was gnawing on her backbone.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," she murmured to herself while fishing out the new set of lock picking tools that Zevran had given her before she left Denerim.

It only took a few seconds for her to get the door opened. She strode into the room, summoning the same steel into her voice that she had used to break up fights between Morrigan and Alistair before they could kill each other.

"Anders! Get your lazy arse out of bed this instant!"

"Nnnugh," came his response from underneath the ridiculous embroidered pillow he had pressed over his head to block out the light.

In an instant she was at his bedside snatching the pillow and blanket aside to reveal a very naked Anders. He stretched languidly and leered up at her.

"Did you know," he drawled "that you are absolutely gorgeous when you are angry? Your eyes are like twin flame-lit emeralds."

Lithoniel glared down at him.

"Anders. First of all, I am your commander and I expect as much respect as you can manage to scrape together. Second, my heart already belongs to another so nothing is ever going to happen between us. Ever. And beside all of that if we don't get to Amaranthine City soon we might lose more than just the lead on your phylactery. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ser!" Anders replied with exaggerated respect.

Lith decided to pick her battles and let that one slide. "Good. Now make yourself decent and get some breakfast. We need to leave within the hour."


End file.
